Keto Thin Mints are crispy keto cookies with a sugar-free mint chocolate coating. They’re the perfect way to indulge in Girl Scout cookies without all the sugar and carbs.
Fact: Nothing derails a keto diet faster than a box of Girl Scout Cookies. But never fear, Keto Thin Mints are here!
These are the low carb cookie recipe of your dreams. Or maybe my dreams. Perhaps we’ve been dreaming about this together. This thin mint cookie recipe was first posted in 2011.
Those Girl Scouts will be knocking on your door soon, and I so thought it was time I gave these beloved sugar free cookies a little update. Because you need all the help you can get to ward off the sugary temptation.
Sugar-free Girl Scout cookies
If you have trouble resisting the sweet and tasty treats sold by Girl Scouts, you are not alone.
The only possible solution? Making your own healthier versions at home. Whatever your favorite flavor is, I have a keto-friendly version. Such as keto tagalong bars, keto Samoa bars, and even keto Do-si-do cookies.
And of course, these delicious Keto Thin Mints.
All of these recipes really satisfy that craving for cookies. And best of all, they’re easy enough to make any time you need them.
Ingredients
This Keto Thin Mints recipe uses standard low carb ingredients that are readily available at most grocery stores. You will need:
- Almond flour
- Cocoa powder
- Erythritol sweetener (such as Swerve)
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Egg
- Butter
- Vanilla extract
- Peppermint extract
- Cocoa butter (or coconut oil)
- Sugar-free dark chocolate
How to make keto thin mints
It’s easy to make these crispy keto chocolate cookies. Be sure to check out the video in the recipe card for step-by-step instructions.
The cookies
Thin mints start with a good crisp chocolate wafer. I use these same wafers in my keto oreos too!
- Use finely ground almond flour: As always, a good fine almond flour produces the best results in keto baking. Your cookies will be more cohesive and crisp up better. Read more about baking with almond flour.
- The sweetener matters: I know everyone has their preferences but only erythritol-based sweeteners, such as Swerve, produce crisp cookies.
- Roll the dough evenly: I like to roll mine less than ¼ inch thick, so that I get a lot of cookies. But what matters most is that they are all of an even thickness, so that they bake evenly.
- Cut out circles: Grab a 2-inch round cookie cutter and get cutting!
- Bake at a low temperature: I keep my oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for these keto thin mints, so that they crisp up without burning. How long they take depends on how thinly you rolled out the dough.
The coating
Now for the fun part… dipping the wafers in a minty chocolate coating.
- Don’t use unsweetened chocolate! Several readers have made the mistake of using unsweetened chocolate, which has absolutely no sweetener whatsoever. And of course the keto thin mints turned out quite bitter! Make sure you are using a good no-sugar-added chocolate like Lily’s, which is sweetened with erythritol and stevia.
- Set up a double boiler: A double boiler allows you to melt the chocolate more gently, without overheating it.
- Add a little oil to thin the chocolate coating, making it easier to dip the wafers.
- Mint extract to taste: I recommend using an oil-based extract, to make the chocolate less likely to seize. I use a teaspoon of Frontier peppermint flavor but you can always use more if you prefer a stronger flavor.
- Dip the wafers: Drop them into the melted chocolate, toss them to coat, and lift out with a fork. Then tap the fork on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. Place the keto thin mints on a waxed paper lined baking sheet until set.
Pro tip: Freeze the wafers before you start dipping them, so that the chocolate sets faster. It’s much less messy that way!
Frequently Asked Questions
Sure thing! Try using sunflower seed flour in place of the almond flour. You may need a little bit more to firm up the dough properly.
That works too! Try using coconut oil in place of the butter for the cookies and make sure to use dark chocolate for the coating.
If you want crisp cookies, you must use an erythritol based sweetener such as Swerve or Lakanto. Any amount of allulose will make these cookies very soft and spongey.
You could do that, but if you want nice even circles, I recommend rolling the dough out and cutting with a cookie cutter. The slice-and-bake method would be just as much work, in my opinion.
There are a couple of possibilities. You may have let the heat get too high when melting it. And you may have gotten some liquid in there, as any amount of water will cause seizing.
Yes! They are a great make-ahead cookie. You can either just make the wafers, and dip them when ready, or you can make the finished cookies and freeze those.
Storage Instructions
Store the cookies at room temperature in a covered container for up to a week, or in the fridge for 10 days. They can also be frozen for several months.
Keto Thin Mint Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 ¾ cups almond flour
- ⅓ cup cocao powder
- ⅓ cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg slightly beaten
- 2 tablespoon butter melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Coating:
- ½ ounce cocoa butter or 1 tablespoon coconut oil**
- 7 oz Lily’s dark chocolate chopped
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 300F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour, cocao powder, sweetener, baking powder and salt. Add in egg, butter and vanilla extract and stir well until dough comes together.
- Roll out dough between two pieces of parchment paper to desired thickness, but no more than ¼ inch thick. Lift off top piece of parchment and set aside.
- Using a 2-inch diameter cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and lift gently. Place cookies on prepared baking sheet. Gather up scraps of dough and reroll until too little is left to roll out.
- Bake cookies until firm to the touch,20 to 30 minutes (this will vary depending on how thinly you rolled your dough). Remove and let cool. They will continue to crisp up as they cool.
- Pro tip: Once cool, place the wafers in the freezer so the chocolate sets faster.
Chocolate Coating
- Set a heatproof bowl over a pot of gently simmering water. Add the chocolate and cocoa butter, stirring frequently until smooth and melted. Remove from heat and stir in the peppermint extract.
- Dip the cookies into the chocolate, using two forks to turn over and fully coat cookie.
- Lift out the cookie and gently tap the fork on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate, then place on a waxed paper lined baking sheet.
- Refrigerate until fully set.
Ann says
Carolyn, love the idea of this recipe! I am, however, one of the people for whom it did not turn out well. My cookies were fine – they may have baked a little too long, but otherwise fine. I only got 6 coated cookies before the chocolate became too thick to work with. I used Lily’s chocolate chips – should I have used something else, like the Lindt you recommended? Those 6 cookies were good, but sadly, I still have a lot of uncoated ones left. 🙁 Any suggestions for keeping the chocolate thin and melted? Thanks!
Carolyn says
Yes! I should change this recipe to note that the best way to thin the chocolate is with either cocoa butter (about 1/2 ounce) or coconut oil (1 tbsp). Lily’s Baking Bar melts much better than their regular dark chocolate. That does end up quite thick. I recommend the cocoa butte as the best way to make a thinner coating. This is the one I use: http://amzn.to/2lyB8Ch
This Needs Fixed says
This recipe needs heavily adjusted. The peppermint extract should be added before heating the chocolate, otherwise the chocolate will seize. Following this recipe almost completely ruined these cookies for me.
Carolyn says
I’ve made chocolate coating multiple times and my chocolate has never seized upon adding the extract. It makes me think you are either over-heating your chocolate or you are using not a good quality chocolate that is more prone to seizing.
Nicole says
agreed – I added my peppermint extract after and it was just fine – perfect actually.
Britney says
Yes, my chocolate came out fine. Used Lilly’s chips and cocoa butter. It’s my cookies that didn’t turn out. Tasted burnt and i only cooked 20 minuets:-(
I have and kove your cookbook BTW..:-)
Robert says
These are absolutely amazing!! I was a little nervous but wow…We made them small so we got 48 of these babies, Not exactly thin mints…but sure close enough! Thank you
Kerri says
If I want to use just Pyure would that be okay or does it need to be Swerve and liquid stevia?
Carolyn says
I think it should be fine. I hope they crisp up enough because it does have a different texture than Swerve. But it’s worth a shot!
Meaghan says
As always a fabulous recipe Carolyn. Can’t get the gluten free choc over here in rural Victoria, Australia so I went for the Lindt. I just love how your recipes just work.
Thanks for the inspiration you’ve given me over the last 18 months of going low carb. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and the new year brings everything you hope for.
Carolyn says
Thank you, Meaghan! Have a wonderful holiday!
Kathy L says
I LOVE these! I used 2 tablespoons of maple syrup for the sweetner, and it works great.
Barbara says
Carolyn, Loved this post ! One because my daughter married a Canadian and all her friends want us to bring up cookies that they still can’t get in Canada (and the ones they do get taste differently) ! We brought up a few CASES. My cookie supplier was a happy camper ! Two-I have missed thin mints since going low carb ! I can usually get by with a taste of ONE, but more than that….no. Who eats just one ??!! Do these freeze well ? Always have some in the freezer for summer with ice cream. 🙂
Jo-Jo says
I could not wait to try these, and finally did! First, I followed the recipe exactly. I made 40 cookies with a little blob of about 3 TBPS. of dough left. I covered all in chocolate, and used exactly 7 oz. of chocolate and have quite a bit of melted chocolate remaining. The good news is that THESE COOKIES ARE SO GOOD that I am now making more dough to use the remainder of the chocolate! So I will go back into the kitchen and finish. Right now I have 38 wonderful cookies in the refrigerator ready for me and my family to eat. They are rich and chocolaty. I used Green & Black’s organic Dark 85% bars, two 3.5 Oz/100g and they were $3.99 a bar at whole foods. It is fair-trade organic chocolate.
Carolyn says
I wonder if your chocolate melts thinner than mine did? Hard to know know the issue was, but I say leftover chocolate is much better than not having enough.
Jo-Jo says
I completely agree! It was a pleasant surprise, because now I made 80 cookies. The kids love them too. I froze them and it is hot outside…..PERFECT!
Katie says
I can’t thank you enough for the recipe! I bought my boys two boxes of Thin Mints and the smell is intoxicating. I can spell them three floors away. This was pretty easy and I had everything but the mint extract in the house even. Next time I will push the thinness. I thought they were very thin, but only got about 30 cookies. I did some very thin and some thicker. I was worried they would fall apart if they were not thicker. But even the thinnest held up well. I also will add more mint extract as I like things very minty. My seven year old was completely perplexed as to why I would make these when we had a box sitting on the counter. I will show him when he’s through his box and has to watch me eat mine lol.
Kara says
I don’t have any stevia. Can I just make with regular sugar? And how much would I need?
Carolyn says
1/3 cup of regular sugar should be enough.
Meg Russell says
There’s no way this recipe makes 40 cookies and no way they need to cook 40 minutes. With only one and three quarter cups flour, I barely got 15 cookies. Is something wrong with the recipe?
Carolyn says
If something was wrong with the recipe, a lot of people would have had the same issue. They should be rolled pretty thin, so the only thing I can think is that yours wasn’t rolled thinly enough.
Lea says
I used a tortilla press to get the dough nice and thin and I managed to get 60 cookies although my cookie cutter (shot glass) wasn’t quite 2inches in diameter. These were so easy to press out with the tortilla press mine is a cast iron press and I use a silicone mat on top and bottom of the dough. I noticed that there was a lot of oil that seemed to leech from the dough? Could that have been the butter or was it the oil coming out of the almond flour?
Katie says
I am baking the cookies now and I easily obtained 38-40. Rolling them out thinly is key.
Susan says
Carolyn, My son has an allergy to nuts and I am wondering if I could possibly use coconut flour instead of the almond flour?
Carolyn says
Not in this recipe, I am afraid. It just behaves so differently. How about sunflower seed flour?
Susan says
Caroline,
Hmm I didn’t know that was even available. I’ll get some and try it.
Thin mints (cookie) were always his favorite so want to surprise him
I’ll let you know if it works!
Susan says
My son has an allergy to nuts and I am wondering if I could possibly use coconut flour instead of the almond flour?
Ramona says
Amazing – Amazing – cookies – instead of pepermint extract – I used Doterra Essential Oils 6 drops – To die for!!!!!
mickie says
thank you is not enough to be able to have away to make these. To be honest I use to be the service leader for the cookie sale. The smell of those thin mints when I would first open the door would just over power me to the point of not being able to eat,smell or even look at thin mints for 19 years, yes I have not eated a Girl Scout cookie for almost 20 years. NOW I AM READY TO EAT THEM AGAIN AND THANK YOU FOR MAKING THEM BETTER. WE MADE A WOPPING 35 cents per box. Don’t know what they make now but I bet their not up to $1.00 yet. Do you have the TRIFOLDS (SHORTBREAD)they are so good when you dunk them in hot tea. However where in the USA do I find almond flour granulated erythritol, the 7oz cacao bars never heard of them. maybe you could put the items to make these cookies in a box and sell the box so we all would have what it takes to make them. now with a recipe. I can try a choc gunnash covering them
thin mints at least 1 batch then I’ll be a good girl scout and make them the healthy way. I have not seen a girl scout in my area in over 8+ yrs. We use to be the largest service unit in San Antonio, TX . THANKS AGAIN FROM ALL OF US CHOC. FANS!!!
Carolyn says
You’re welcome. Almond flour is widely available at most grocery stores now, but definitely you can find it at Whole Foods, Amazon, etc. The erythritol I like to use is Swerve brand and you can definitely get that online. And the cacao is just Lindt or another brand in very dark chocolate 70% or higher.
Mary Canaday Gray says
Where are the nutritional numbers on these? Calories, carbs, etc???
Courtney says
HELP! I tried to make these for some christmas cookies. My dough would not come together. I did use regular flour because I don’t need them to be gluten free. I also used Truvia baking blend for the erythritol as I have many different forms of non-sugar and I wasn’t going to buy another one. How will this change the recipe? It was way too dry wouldn’t make a dough. I tried adding vanilla, mint extract, more butter, another egg trying to get it to make a dough. Any ideas?
Carolyn says
I am sorry but you cannot replace almond flour with regular flour. Almond flour has far more fat and moisture than wheat flour. You can never, ever make a direct exchange. So that was your problem right there.
Vicki says
What is erythritol and what is its’ purpose? Where can I find it or what can I substitute for it? here in NC, no one has heard of it. Also what amount of granular stevia can be substituted for liquid? thanks! Hesse sound great.
Ginny says
I had to look up erythritol – it goes by the name Truvia in the US.
Carolyn says
No, not exactly. Truvia is an erythritol based sweetener that also contains stevia. There are many brands of erythritol-based sweeteners and my favourite is Swerve.
Jeanette says
1/3 cup cocao powder? Do you mean cocoa powder or cacao powder?
Carolyn says
cocoa powder
Diane says
To be truly gluten free, the maker needs to take care in the vanilla they use. Vanilla is made with alcohol, which may be made from a grain. Tricky little things that sneek into a diet. ;o)
Carolyn says
Tricky, because I do so much of it by taste and stevia is really not a consistent exchange with sugar. But here's the way I do it. And for me, it's the interaction between erythritol and stevia that gives the sweetness I want. But I'd say that for these cookies (the cookies themselves), I am replacing about 1/2 cup sugar TOTAL between the erythritol and stevia. Does that help?